Terror
“Terror Strikes the Heart,” ©2023 William L. Brown,
I’ve been forced to think deeply about terrorism and war crimes by events in Ukraine over the last nearly-600 days. I–and perhaps you as well– have been contemplating not only the personal emotional effects, but the legal definitions and moral/legal boundaries set by international law on the appropriate, disciplined response to them–
I’m not as close to the Israel/Palestine conflict, but I do know that Ukraine, though terrorized and bullied by a stronger nation, does not respond in kind. It is the Russians who target civilians, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure. They are the ones who torture, rape, castrate, kidnap and murder civilians and prisoners of war. But even in the face of these provocations, Ukrainians do not respond with the same acts, they do not give in to the urge to retaliate. They focus on winning the war militarily, targeting military, not civilian, targets.
“Global Terror,” © 2023, William L. Brown.
The terrorist attack on Israel is likened to the 9/11 terror attack on the US. 9/11 earned the US world-wide sympathy and support. It was all squandered with America’s subsequent War on Terror. US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq are well documented.
Israel seems to be following the same path, but much faster.
So, I do not stand with Israel, nor with any political entity in the region. I do stand with civilians. They are the ones being targeted, and that is a war crime, no matter who is doing the targeting. Ukraine manages to keep this in focus despite provocation, others can, too.
As the terror attacks and the harsh responses were reported live on the news, I relived my feelings of February 24, 2022: helplessness, followed by dismay that there is no higher, stronger authority able or willing to stop such horrors. International agreements and institutions such as the United Nations are useless. The reality is that no nation on earth is willing to give an international organization that much power over itself.
That’s understandable. But it may doom democracy and freedom. As climate change increases and brings more chaos to the world, which will in turn bring more extremists to power, we will wish more often for a humanitarian worldwide authority.
In the days following the full invasion, I was struck by an episode of the podcast Ukraine Without Hype. The host was Anthony Bartaway. He commented on Ukrainian president Zelensky’s then-recent April 5, 2022 address to the United Nations Security Council.
“As for the United Nations–as Zelensky said during his appearance at the Security Council–what is the point of the organization if it cannot in the 21st century work to prevent violence, work to prevent genocide, work to prevent aggression of one of its member-states against another. If it is incapable of doing so, then it should be dissolved.
I do not see the point of an international organization that fails its charter in every conceivable way, every single conflict that we have witnessed since the organization’s foundation.
I don’t agree that the UN has failed in every way, but it certainly failed to stop Russia and it failed to solve the Middle East conflict. It is not what the world needs. It needs an institution with the power to halt an aggressor. It needn’t be military power. It might be something like a virtual “off” switch on every nation’s economy, or severe sanctions (better than the ones we’re using now against Russia).
In that speech, Zelensky said the following. The phrase about evil spreading around the world has fresh relevance, unfortunately.
"We are dealing with a state that turns the right of veto in the UN Security Council into a right to kill, which undermines the whole architecture of global security. Which allows evil to go unpunished and spread around the world. Destroying everything that can work for peace and security.
If this continues, the finale will be that each state will rely only on the power of arms to ensure its security, not on international law, not on international institutions.
Then, the UN can simply be dissolved.
Enjoyed this post. I couldn't help but notice you left out the name of the terrorist, Hamas. Also, no mention of the atrocities committed by Hamas on Arab Bedouins. Hamas kidnapped scores of Bedouins and brought them back to Gaza. At least 15 Bedouins were killed in the attack. Hamas is no different than ISIS.
The UN does a lot of good in many areas including war situtions, armed conflict, and peacekeeping deployments. But they have some insurmountable structural amd charter limitations. They couldn't stop the Rwandan genocide or many civil conflicts because they have to be asked and empowered by the offending nation to intervene. Of course a country embarking on a purposeful genocide for example is not going to invite an armed force to stop them. Preventing all out war anywhere is the biggest hill they have to climb and it is still elusive. I would think dismantling the UN in any way would only make everything far worse.